Search - Hanna Schaer :: Le Miroir de Jesus - Inscriptions Champetres (Fra)

Rare French Art...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 06/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

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The chamber oratorio The Mirror of Jesus: Fifteen Sonnets on the Mysteries of the Rosary (1911) is André Caplet (1878-1925)'s masterpiece. Immaculately scored for mezzo-soprano, female chorus, string orchestra and harp, The Mirror reflects the Ralliement esthetique--the resurgence of interest in Romish mysticism in the late-19th/early-20th Centuries.



In The Mirror, Caplet synthesizes Debussian/Ravelian Impressionism with the modalities of Gregorian organum--(Satie had done something similar with his "Ogives"). The fifteen poems are subdivided into three sections, each preceeded by a prelude. TT: :61mins.



The rabbi Saul of Tarsus has said, "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" (1 Cor. 13:12); nevertheless, in art appreciation, it is not necessary to incorporate Scriputural hermeneutics: indeed, one can appreciate The Mirror as absolute music--especially as the French language has a large percentage of vowel sounds, the vocalise is exquisitely wrough in combination with the strings.

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Caplet: Mélodies

Caplet-Messe a Trois Voix-Priere-Melodies-No/Var

Caplet: Conte fantastique; Setuor; Prières

Les Angélus: French Sacred Music for Soprano and Organ

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